Jan. 28, 2016 By Christian Murray
Two brothers who pleaded guilty to felony charges in a case where a 25-year-old woman was “bought” for $200 and then held against her will for a week while she was forced to have sex were sentenced today.
Evan Hernandez, 25, from Corona, was sentenced to between 4 1/2 and nine years prison after pleading guilty to charges of sex trafficking.
Hernandez met the victim in April 2014 after being introduced to him by a woman at the Queens Motor Inn, located at 64-11 Queens Boulevard. When the woman who made the introduction had left, Hernandez told the victim at gunpoint that she had been sold to him for $200 and that she needed to work for him as a prostitute to repay the debt, according to the criminal charges.
Hernandez called his brother Richard Hernandez, 27, to the motor inn to watch the victim and not to let her leave. On that day, both brothers forced the victim to have sexual intercourse with them while Evan Hernandez held a gun to her head and also forced her to perform oral sex on him, according to the charges.
On two other occasions, the victim was forced to have sexual intercourse with Richard Hernandez at the Queens Motor Inn.
Additionally, it was charged that the two brothers kept the victim inside the motor inn between April 16-21, 2014, and forced her to have sexual intercourse with numerous men in exchange for cash, all of which she was required to turn over to Evan and Richard Hernandez.
During this time, Evan Hernandez threatened the victim, stating that he was her pimp and that he would kill her at any time if she did not obey him, according to the charges.
He also slapped and punched the victim and put his gun against her numerous times, stating that she was not free to leave and that she had to make more money by prostituting. At one point, Evan Hernandez took the victim’s phone and posted pictures of her on backpage.com and arranged prostitution dates for her at the motor inn.
On April 21, 2014, the victim managed to call her mother from a client’s phone and her mother, in turn, called 911 and alerted the police to the victim’s location.
Richard Hernandez, 27, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to between three years and six years in prison on charges of second-degree promoting prostitution.
“This case makes it abundantly clear that prostitution is not a victimless crime but a terrifying and despicable offense against society – and the young women that it enslaves,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A Brown. “The sentences imposed by the court punish both defendants for their actions and send a clear message that crimes such as these will not be tolerated in Queens County,”
Featured Events
6 Comments
The sentensing is so disgusting, illegal gun, raps and held agaings her will, these mother f….kers deserve to be shot.
I would pay a very large sum of cash to someone who would make these two disappear permanently.
So disappointing that the DA can’t even distinguish between rape and prostitution. The latter is by choice, the former is not. This poor woman was raped and the perpetrators should have been charged accordingly.
This is a scandalously weak prosecution. DA Richard Brown should be ashamed. “Second Degree Promoting Prostitution” barely scratches the surface of the crimes committed here. 3-6 years is a limp slap on the wrist. Queens deserves competent law enforcement. Brown needs to be driven from office and replaced with somebody with the skills and guts to keep us safe.
I couldn’t agree more. A VERY light sentence.
It was a light sentence due to pledging guilty if they would of fought the case it could of been a 7-10 or 10-15 that’s how the court systems work when you have a decent lawyer. If they would of had a Legal Aid it could of been worse.